Today we had a discussion with someone looking to join our team, and they asked about how long we’ve been working on getting this project up and running. When I looked back, I was a bit thrown when I thought about all the problems thrown at us that caused delays.
Shortly after we had a lawyer set-up the offering and LLC we began raising funds and had a few people on board. But then the SEC announced it was changing rules about raising funds..and so we asked our lawyer to see if the changes affected us or if they could be used to our advantage. After about a month this lawyer said he could not answer, so we sought another lawyer who could. That lawyer requested to review everything we had in place and discovered many errors in the legal work, that our tax filings were filed in a way that disqualified for us for a federal tax incentive. We decided to fire the old lawyer and reboot with the new lawyer. But the old lawyer could not find the investors funds that were sent to be deposited in his escrow account. After a month he discovered he never deposited the checks and they were sitting in a folder in a storage room. It made us look like fools to those investors. One had considered to get back on board but was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Several months later we restarted the whole project at a larger budget and joined our lawyer in the Toronto Film Festival. There we introduced the project around and gained some interest. We then went to Sundance with our lawyer where we tied in 1st place for a pitching event. Afterwards, a distributor on the panel advised to up the budget again, based on their may years’ experience in distribution. So, once again, back to changing the budget and investment papers. Finally ready!
But during the next months we had many meetings with investors who talked a good game, made promises they never delivered, eventually ghosting us. Geeze, all they needed to say was “no thanks.” We were introduced to several people connected to investors who seemed to have the experience and contacts…and, after a few meetings demanded large up-front fees. No thanks.
The our producing partner’s home caught on fire and he spend half a year living in a hotel room. Shortly after that the other producing partner had a major episode of Bell’s Palsey. Meanwhile, the clock and the calendar were ticking…
Most recently we scheduled a reading in Manhattan for potential investors. We began our rehearsal at 2 PM, with the reading to start at 7 PM. BUT, at 1:30 PM a helicopter crashed atop a building less than two blocks away cause traffic nightmares. The reading went on, but the audience was very small – we we thank those loyal supports for coming out and laughing. A lot.
We’ve now schedule a second reading for July 23rd. Fingers crossed.
It’s not been easy, that’s for sure…but we remain determined!